Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
OT - leaded glass
Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA
>We just bought a leaded glass sash for use in our upcoming kitchen remodel. I'm hoping that that the collective wisdom of this group will have some ideas on how to do a repair.
The glass is one foot by two feet, roughly. The glass and cames are all intact, but the pane looks like someone put a hand in the middle and pushed - it's kind of domed. I assume this can be straightened, but are there any tricks other than being REALLY gentle?
Maybe.....
David Miller from Iowa
>Used to do some professional glazing back in the day. A local church had some stained/leaded glass windows - single pane and not very energy efficient. During the 70s energy crisis, they decided to put plexiglass over the outside to make another pane. Worked good until a summer heatwave and direct sunlight baked the windows until the lead got soft and the windows sagged like you wouldn't believe. We took them out, laid them on the blacktop parking lot in the sun and built a frame and put plastic sheet over it - sort of a solar oven. It straightened them out quite a bit but they never were really the same.
Possible your window was stored horizontally in a hot location and that caused the sag.
Maybe it will fit in your oven. 450 degrees might do it although I would modulate the temperature change very slowly (disclaimer - do at your own risk, I'm not sure this will work, you would be crazy to listen to me, etc.) It would be great if you had another sacrifical piece to test this on.
Drop a brick on it!
Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA
>That will strighten it right out! OK, OK, all kiddin' aside, I'd ask the local glass shop or someone locally that works with stained glass.